Innoson to EFCC: Follow due process in Chukwuma’s prosecution

The EFCC had, on Wednesday, vowed to arrest Chukwuma and make him face fraud charges in court. The EFCC spokesman, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, said this in a statement, shortly after Justice Olusola Williams of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, struck out the case of fraud it brought against Chukwuma, following the anti-corruption agency’s failure to produce him in court. The anti-graft commission wants to arraign Chukwuma and his company, Innoson Motors Nigeria Limited, for allegedly conspiring to obtain, by false pretences, containers of motorcycles, spare parts and raw materials said to be the property of Guaranty Trust Bank, from Mitsui OSK Lines Limited, Apapa, Lagos. However, reacting to the EFCC ‘vow,’ the Innoson Group insisted that the anti-corruption agency should follow due process in prosecuting Chukwuma. The Head of Corporate Communications, Innoson Group, Mr Cornel Osigwe, in a statement in Enugu, expressed concern over the EFCC’s approach towards its plan to prosecute Chukwuma. Osigwe equally expressed concerns over the EFCC’s interest in what he described as a ‘business dispute’ between Innoson and GTB. “It has become necessary to address the modus operandi being used by the EFCC in prosecuting the alleged, trumped-up fraud charges against the Chairman of Innoson Group at the Lagos State High Court. “Are some EFCC officers hell-bent or sent to destroy Chief Innocent Chukwuma? Are these agents acting alone or are they being influenced in order to destroy the industrialist? “This question has become necessary after closely monitoring the activities or the interest of the EFCC in a clearly business dispute between Innoson Nigeria Ltd. and Guaranty Trust Bank. “The Acting Chairman of EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, often times have appeared as one who does his work based on objective principles and therefore should look into the activities of some of his officers who have taken the side of subjectivity,” the statement said. The Innoson Group, in the same vein, alleged that the EFCC wanted to force the company to forego a judgment debt awarded in its favour against GTB. The statement added, “It is on record that GTB’s indebtedness to Innoson as of today is over N22bn – arising from two separate judgment debts in suit numbers FHC/L/CS/603/2006 and FHC/AWK/CS/139/2013. The judgments were delivered by the Federal High Court, Ibadan and Awka divisions, respectively. “The EFCC’s aim in this campaign is to force Innoson to forgo this huge judgment debt.” Accusing the EFCC of ‘bias’ and ‘double standard’, Innoson Group faulted the anti-graft agency for suggesting that Chukwuma was evading arrest since “it is on record that the EFCC never served Innoson any court papers nor extended any letter of invitation to him.”]]>